Letters

Well-off Irish people and climate damage

Taxing the rich could reduce unsustainably high emissions by rich people

Wed Feb 15 2023 - 00:12

Sir, – We in Oxfam Ireland welcome the voice of Fintan O’Toole to an argument we have been researching and voicing for some time – the taxation of the rich, especially the growing class of super-rich, as a vital part of saving our planet (“Well-off Irish people do the most climate damage and must pay the price”, Opinion & Analysis, February 11th).

O’Toole’s argument is based on figures Oxfam Ireland published in 2020, Confronting Carbon Inequality in Ireland, but which come from 2015. We can further support his case by adding new analysis from last year’s Survival of the Richest report. This showed that a billionaire emits over one million times more carbon than the average citizen.

These figures are not Ireland-specific, but we have no reason to believe we are outliers in any way. We could expect the same patterns will be found here among billionaires and the Irish rich. Billionaires are twice as likely to invest in polluting industries like oil or cement than the average investor, largely due to their investment patterns, as our 2022 report, Carbon Billionaires, showed.

We have said that taxing the rich could reduce unsustainably high emissions by rich people and reduce their power and influence over the fossil fuel-addicted economy.

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As Fintan O’Toole says, “People who burn through a lot of money set the world on fire.”

Less poetically our report concludes: “General wealth taxes and other taxes on the rich are effectively green taxation, as they reduce the huge consumption of carbon by the richest.” Those interested in knowing more about our practical, factual suggestions as to how we go about this at home and abroad will find them in two Oxfam reports: Survival of the Richest and Carbon Billionaires. – Yours, etc,

JIM CLARKEN,

CEO,

Oxfam Ireland,

Dublin 4.

Sir, – In a recent Eurostat report Ireland was ranked the lowest in Europe for renewable energy consumption for cooling and heating at just 5.2 per cent for 2021. Sweden had the highest proportion of renewable energy at 68.6 per cent while the EU average was 22.9 per cent.

Ireland is not a poor country by any standards and while we probably hadn’t many private jets lined up in Davos to talk climate policy, there is no escaping the fact that wealth and income are having a disproportionate impact on the health of our planet. Fintan O’Toole is therefore right that well-off people do the most damage to our climate but asking them to pay the price is futile as governments the world over are beholden to the rich and powerful to keep them in power. – Is mise,

TOM McELLIGOTT,

Listowel,

Co Kerry.